WEBVTT ALEXIS.ALEXIS: UC STUDENTS HELD ASTUDENTS DEMANDING TO CHANGETHERE WERE HOPING TO SPREADORGANIZERS ARE ASKING LAW MAKESTUDENT SPEAKERS SPOKE ABOUTTHE CROWD HEARD FROM A GRADUATEAND ANOTHER SPEAKER WHO HAD ASTUDENTS SAY IT IS THEIR>> TIME MAGAZINE JUST CALLED USTHAT IS LIKE IT -- A STAB IN THEI DON’T WANT TO BE KNOWN AS THENOBODY DOES.IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE.>> IT IS INSPIRING, IT ISALEXIS: AS FAR STUDENTWE’LL BRING YOU THE VERY LATESTALEXIS ROGERS, WLWT NEWS

University of Cincinnati students walked out of class Friday to demand changes to end gun violence.

UC was on spring break last week during the national student walkout, so students decided to take part in the national movement demanding gun control on Friday.

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Student organizer Reiley Cowart said students are stepping up to demand change because it impacts them the most.

"It is in our schools, it is in our movie theaters, our concerts. It's affecting our parents, our aunts, our uncles. If we don't change something, it is just going to keep happening," Cowart said.

About 50 to 60 students, faculty members and staff gathered in front of the Tangeman University Center in hopes of putting action behind their concerns.

UC faculty member and local parent Nancy Jennings said she's inspired by the students' efforts.

"I think it is important to be here because I am a faculty member here at UC and I support my UC students. But I am also a mother of a high school student and middle school student. It is important to support them as well," Jennings said.

Those in support of Friday's walk out want to see stricter background checks and they want semi-automatic assault-style rifles and weapons deemed illegal.

Jude Luke is graduate of Great Mills High School in Maryland. Just one year removed from high school, he was devastated to learn of his former classmate's death Friday morning and the gut-wrenching experience his friends went through.

"They saw bodies on the ground they saw pools of blood. My friends told me they could hear the the gunshot. That is something that no student should ... ever have to hear," Luke said.

Cowart is from the Canton, Ohio, area. Her boyfriend's mother works at Jackson Memorial Middle School, where there was a school shooting just a week after the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting. Cowart said her boyfriend's chilling message is why she is pushing so hard for reform Friday.

"His mom sent a text to my mom saying, I am hiding in a closet full of fifth-graders. Please keep guns out of homes. They experienced a school shooting a week after Parkland," Cowart said.

As students left Friday's demonstration they said they are gearing up to make an even bigger impact Saturday.

"We just want to see it stop and that is what the conversation has been about. How we can make it stop, how we can have the greatest influence and how we can make it happen quickly," Cowart said.

Saturday's "March for Our Lives" rally in Cincinnati was organized by a local 17-year-old student. It will start at 11 a.m. on the steps of City Hall.